Transcript
The best way to understand what the difference is between a will and a trust is really to understand how they are similar. They are both documents that we use to help clients decide how they want to distribute their assets. It’s just how they work that’s a little bit different.
A will is basically a probate court document. It is a legal document where you would number one identify guardians for your kids if you had young kids, and it’s also the place where you would leave instructions for the disposition of your assets.
A trust is also a document where you’ll leave instructions for the disposition of your assets. But the difference with a trust is that the trust actually owns the assets. And that means those assets don’t have to go through a probate court process. Trust also stays private, and there’s a lot more control over what happens to those assets through a trust. A lot more flexibility over how the assets are treated. But that’s the difference between a will and a trust.
Both documents for distributing assets and leaving those sets of instructions. But a will is a court document that gets filed in court. A trust is a private document which helps to make things a lot easier for your family.
